Rasheed Airbase / Al-Rashid Military Camp

Rasheed Airbase is located approximately 11 kilometers Southeast of downtown Baghdad. The airbase is served by a 8,300 foot long runway. According to the "Gulf War Air Power Survey, there were 10 hardened aircraft shelters at Rasheed of 1991.

The Al-Rashid Military Camp [also known as Al-Rasheed, Al Rasedia, Al Rasheida, or Al Rashedia] is located on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. Names like Sultan Harun Al Rashid, Abu Nawas, Ali Baba, Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor invoke memories of a unique Islamic civillization in the land of Iraq more than 1,000 years ago.

Military Intelligence [Al-Istikhbarat al-Askariyya] Military Brigade includes a rapid intervention battalion to respond to security threats in the Baghdad region. Although the main headquarters complex in the Aladhamia area of Baghdad includes a prison and interrogation center in addition to a variety of support facilities, Istikhbarat also has a facility at Al Rashid camp in Baghdad.

By early 1998 the 6th Special Republican Guard Battalion, stationed at al-Rashid barracks, was charged with responsibility to seal off the Shi'i "Saddam City" quarter and bombard it indiscriminately in case of mass revolt, as the Guard did in Najaf and Karbala in 1991.

By April 2002 anti-aircraft guns had been installed over most of Baghdad high-rises including buildings housing the ministries of foreign affairs, interior, planning and state-run radio and television. The move was part of a large-scale mobilisation of the armed forces undertaken recently in anticipation of a possible US military strike. The government moved several units outside Al-Rasheed military camp in the outskirts of Baghdad.

A multistory underground detention and torture center reportedly was built under the general military hospital building close to the Al-Rashid military camp on the outskirts of Baghdad. The Center for Human Rights of the Iraqi Communist Party stated that the complex includes torture and execution chambers. A section reportedly is reserved for prisoners in a "frozen" state--that is, those whose status, fate, or whereabouts are not disclosed.

Al-Rashidiya prison on the Tigris River north of Taji, which reportedly has torture chambers, is unrelated to the Al-Rashid Military Camp.

Ar Rustamiyah College
The top military academy under Saddam Hussein's regime, called Rustumia College [Ar Rustamiyah], is in eastern Baghdad. The prestigious Baghdad Military Academy, Iraq's West Point, is also known as the Iraqi Military Academy or the Iraqi War College. The school includes gyms, barracks, rifle ranges, offices, a pool, museum, library, grenade practice area, clock tower and a screening room where movie reels were unwound on the carpeted floor.

In 1957 Saddam failed the entrance exam at the Baghdad Military Academy (probably because he had not finished high school), which devastated Saddam. Most of the enlisted soldiers described their officers as distant, but normally not as a threat. Iraqi officer training was described by a captured graduate of the Baghdad Military Academy as "on the Sandhurst model," suggesting a British influence and a subsequent separation between the ranks of officers and enlisted. Officers were often politically appointed and not regarded as tactically competent by their men.

On 31 March 2003 American warplanes bombed the barracks of the main training center of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in eastern Baghdad's Rustamiyah area.

In mid-April 2003 Seabees were roaming through a hastily deserted Iraqi military academy, where the teapot in each barrack bedroom was still half full. The Seabees, from Port Hueneme's Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 Task Force Mike, were encamped at the sports stadium of an elite Iraqi military academy. When Seabees arrived one of the sites they found was the academy's ransacked museum. Mannequins were stripped of their period uniforms, glass display cases were smashed and looted, posters were stripped from the walls. Each of the photographs of Iraqi forces framed on the wall had been smashed.

Camp Falcon
In late September 2003 one major project for the 439th Engineering Battalion was the construction of Camp Falcon. The battalion delivered over 100,000 tons of gravel for the roads, and are assisting with building the roads, walls, guard towers, and buildings for the Camp. They also finished repairing a compound for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, (their equivalent of the National Guard). The unit worked with many Iraqi contractors and vendors who are employed by the Army to help rebuild this country. The water and irrigation systems continued to improve, although much work is still needed and sometimes progress seems slow.

By late September 2003 the dining facility had opened. As a result, all of the soldiers can now have a hot breakfast, and a hot supper. Depending on the missions, a lot of days the soldiers actually get three hot meals. The 439th Engineer Battalion also had finished repairing a compound for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, (their equivalent of the National Guard). They work with many Iraqi contractors and vendors who are employed by the Army to help rebuild this country. As of October 2003 the 439th Engineer Battalion was working on the construction of Camp Falcon. The Engineers had refurbished a number of buildings within the compound and added a force protection wall on the west side of the compound. They delivered over 100,000 tons of gravel for the roads, and were assisting with building the roads, walls, guard towers, and buildings for the Camp. Six new barracks were approximately 40% done and the Engineers had started paving some new roads leading into the camp and also within the camp. The internet cafes had opened so the soldiers now have a more reliable connection to the rest of the world and the families. Unfortunately, the telephone service the soldiers had been using had degraded badly. The Engineers were working on the construction of the Camp Falcon permanent Forward Operating Base (FOB). It was still a few of months until the soldiers would have real barracks with real beds and mattresses, but the buildings were going up. Other projects in the area of water and sewer are also continuing and the Engineers were doing additional work on the compound for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

As of October 2003 troops were still working on the construction of the Camp Falcon permanent forward operating base (FOB). It was still a few of months until the soldiers have real barracks with real beds and mattresses but it was nice to see buildings going up. Troops had refurbished a number of buildings within the compound. They added a force protection wall on the west side of the compound. Six new barracks were approximately 40% done. They have started paving some new roads leading into the camp and also within the camp. Other projects in the area of water and sewer are also continuing and we are doing additional work on the compound for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (the equivalent of the U.S. National Guard).

In December 2003 paratroopers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division began Jumpmaster Refresher Courses, Jumpmaster Pretests and Air Movement Operations Courses at Camp Falcon. The classes are being conducted at the forward operating base in southern Baghdad to prepare the brigade for redeployment and assumption of their mission back at Fort Bragg, NC, early next year. The brigade is part of Task Force 1st Armored Division.

The living conditions are slightly better here than they were in Afghanistan. The Army's barracks include a full mess, high-speed Internet access, and Armed Forces television.

The 1st Armored Division Artillery accepted authority of the Al Rashid district in southern Baghdad from 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, during a transfer of authority ceremony at Camp Falcon, 23 January 2004. The Division Artillery Combat Team looked forward to working with the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, specifically the 504th battalion and Alpha Company, 36th Battalion, which called Camp Falcon home.

Camp Falcon / Camp Al-Saqr
FOB/Camp Ferrin-Huggins, Baghdad
In mid-September 2004, as part of an Army-wide effort to give its facilities around Baghdad friendlier connotations, and try to resolve the issue of constantly-changing facility names, Camp Ferrin-Huggins was renamed Camp Falcon, with its Arabic translation "Camp Al-Saqr". The facility thereby re-assumed the name it had prior to being renamed Camp Ferrin-Huggins.

By late January 2004 engineers from the 1st Armored Division were midway through an $800 million project to build half a dozen camps for the incoming 1st Cavalry Division. Army planners expected to finish by 15 March 2004. The new outposts, dubbed Enduring Camps, will improve living quarters for soldiers and allow the military to return key infrastructure sites within the Iraqi capital to the emerging government, military leaders said. Plans called for the camps to last between five to 10 years, possibly even longer. Moving to the outskirts of town will allow Iraqi police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps to take a lead role in the city's security. At Camp Falcon, on the southern outskirts, a base camp for 5,000 is planned.

The 1st Cavalry Division's 5th Brigade Combat Team assumed the mission of securing Baghdad's Al Rashid District from the 1st Armored Division's Division Artillery Combat Team at a transfer-of-authority ceremony 06 April 2004. Col. Stephen Lanza was the 1st Cavalry's 5th Brigade Combat Team, or Red Team, commander. Since arriving in Iraq a year ago, the 1st Armored's DivArty Combat Team had completed a number of different missions. The DIVARTY Combat Team, the 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment, and the 1st Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, led the force protection package at Baghdad International Airport. Later, the unit set up a counter-battery center to combat the mortar and rocket fire into the airport and 1st Armored's headquarters. In January 2004, they moved to Forward Operating Base Falcon (since renamed Camp Ferrin-Huggins). The 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment and Task Force 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were later added to the DIVARTY Combat Team and assumed responsibility of the city's Al Rashid District.

Iraq is a strange place for most Soldiers. From the hot, dry heat to the ever-present dust that settles everywhere. The day in the life of a deployed troop doesn't always include all the right ingredients to make him comfortable, but luckily there are always some things he can do to make him feel more at home. There sometimes is a special area he goes to enjoy his worldly pastimes. It may be the basketball court: possibly the Internet caf?. Some places of recreation are found in less likely areas. One such area lies outside in a corner of the Headquarters Company barracks next to the 5th Brigade Combat Team headquarters on Camp Ferrin Huggins. An I-beam lies on the cracked asphalt; its edges coated in wax. A dismounted handrail put in place by sandbags stands 10 inches off the ground. The sight might confuse bystanders, until its architects arrive. The sun begins to set and four friends convene with weapons slung as they cling onto wheeled boards before slapping them on the pavement, and this assembly of random objects begins to look more like a crude excuse for a skate park.

Previous construction work at the Forward Operating Base Ferrin-Huggins site had been done fast and cheap. Soldiers later were assigned with the renovation of a series of concrete housing facilities that had been previously hurriedly constructed by the Iraqis. They were constructed so fast, in fact, that the landfill they were built on had not been properly compacted and allowed settlement time. Subsequently, after the buildings went up and weathered the rainy season, the floors gave, breaking all the water systems. The soldiers had to, as a result, replace those systems and as well as restore the buildings, with Army engineers also providing input to contracting.

As of late December 2004, Camp Falcon in southern Baghdad was also home to a spacious PX. For Thanksgiving 2004, meals were provided for 3,000 by Camp Falcon's canteen and kitchen staff.

Camp Graceland
Camp Graceland is the US National Guard side of Camp Falcon. It is a United States Military installation that housed the 2175th Military Police Company's quarters, HHD 168th Batallion, and is located 20 minutes south of downtown Baghdad, Iraq, right off Highway 8.

Camp Muleskinner / Muleskinner Base
Camp Muleskinner was renamed Camp Cuervo on 01 April 2004. Camp Muleskinner was home to part of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The Difac (dining facility) at Camp Muleskinner is also called the KBR, as it's built and operated by the company Kellogg, Brown and Root. The 411th Civil Affairs, was based here. It was also home for the support units of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The name comes from the days when the cavalry sometimes had to eat their own mules to survive. The 411th Civil Affairs was based at the Canal Hotel compound, where UN headquarters was. But it was the target of two bombings so they moved. [SOURCE]

The 2nd Cavalry Regimental Change of Command occurred in Baghdad on 18 June at 0700 hrs at Muleskinner Base adjacent to Redcatcher Field in a little soccer field at the old Iraqi Republican Guard Training Facility (now occupied by RSS, 4/2, 2-6 IN, and 3-7IN).

Muleskinner base has been designated as one of the enduring US compounds that will remain in Iraq. The soldiers in every troop have worked very hard and diligently in extremely hot weather to ensure that the new and upcoming base is well suited for all that live on the compound. The quality of life has improved greatly as all of the work areas and soldiers living areas now have air-conditioning. The shower trailers are complete and ready for operation and there are trash dumpsters located around work and living areas. There is weight-room underway and the Internet Caf? will be operational in a matter of days allowing soldiers a lot more feasibility to communicate with love ones back home. The new consolidated dining facility that is being operated by Kellogg Brown and Root served its first meal on the 21st of August. It provided a great steak & lobster meal for all to enjoy.

As the soldiers of 2ACR began their seventh month of work in Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, precious but important time was taken to identify the Non Commissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year for 2003. Starting on 16 September 2003, the three-day event tested the nominated soldiers in a number of events. The competition took place at one of the base camps in Baghdad, Camp Muleskinner. The winners were announced on the evening of 18 September 2003.

By late January 2004 engineers from the 1st Armored Division were midway through an $800 million project to build half a dozen camps for the incoming 1st Cavalry Division. Army planners expected to finish by 15 March 2004. The new outposts, dubbed Enduring Camps, will improve living quarters for soldiers and allow the military to return key infrastructure sites within the Iraqi capital to the emerging government, military leaders said. "The plan is for the camps to last five to 10 years," said Col. Lou Marich, commander of the 1st AD engineers. "They will last longer if we take care of them." Moving to the outskirts of town will allow Iraqi police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps to take a lead role in the city's security. In Al-Rastimiya, the former Iraqi officers war college sits on what troops called Camp Muleskinner. About 2,100 U.S. troops will share the base with the new Iraqi army.



Camp Rustamiyah / Camp Rustamiyah
Camp Cuervo
In mid-September 2004, as part of an Army-wide renaming of its facilities around Baghdad with friendlier connotations, Camp Cuervo was renamed Camp Rustamiyah, with its Arabic translation "Camp Rustamiyah".

Camp Cuervo is located six miles southeast of Sadr City, and was formally named Camp Muleskinner.

Camp Muleskinner, home of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's support squadron was renamed in honor a fallen trooper 01 April 2004. The forward operating base was renamed "Camp Cuervo" in memory of Pfc. Ray D. Cuervo, Apache Troop, 1st Squadron, 2nd ACR, who was killed-in-action during a combat reconnaissance patrol in Baghdad, on Dec. 28, 2003. "Today we are here to pay tribute in honor of Pfc. Ray D. Cuervo, a fallen hero who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving here," said Lt. Col. John P. Curran, Regimental Support Squadron commander. Lt. Col. Mark E. Calvert, 1st Squadron commander and Col. Brad May, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment commander, also paid tribute to Cuervo's memory. "It's fitting today that we pay tribute to Pfc. Ray D. Cuervo - a soldier, a hero - by renaming this camp after him and his actions here in Baghdad," Calvert said "This is a tribute that will serve as a reminder to all, of his service and of his sacrifice for the security of our nation - and our world." Calvert said Cuervo developed a sense of responsibility for passing along his knowledge and experience. He shared his cavalry scout skills with Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers. "Cuervo was one of many soldiers serving a cause greater than one's self," Calvert said. "A cause that often demands great personal sacrifice and, in Ray's case, the ultimate sacrifice." During the ceremony, a marble pyramid was unveiled in Cuervo's honor, officially declaring the camp "Camp Cuervo" in memory of the fallen cavalry scout.

In an urban landscape like Baghdad, a place peppered with a variety of cars, buildings, people, and animals under the ever-present sheen of neon lighting, the tracked monster that is an M1A2 Abrams tank doesn't make for the most inconspicuous or mobile of vehicles. So when the tankers of White Platoon, "Cobra" Company of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT), left the gates of Camp Cuervo the night of July 29 to patrol their sector in north-eastern Baghdad, they decidedly left their Abrams' behind them. Instead, White Platoon rolled-out in its more mobile, but still quite noticeable up-armored humvees. It wasn't long however, before they came to a stop, parked the vehicles, and threw open their doors to begin part of its patrol that is usually left to the Infantry: the foot patrol.

Eight civilians and four Iraqi police officers were killed 13 June 2004 in a car bombing outside Camp Cuervo, a joint US-Iraqi military base in eastern Baghdad. Twelve people were injured in the attack.

Camp Cuervo is home to four two-stories barrack facilities, buit at a cost of $2 million, each of which is composed of rooms equipped with air conditioning, beds, and wall lockers and can house two soldiers each. These are to be eventually equipped with a flat panel commputer connected to the Internet. A carpeted dayroom, located on the ground floor, is equipped with a big screen TV with satellite, a pool table, couches, as well as other comforts. Both floors of each building have a large restroom with eight showers, sinks, and toilets.These other barracks will house soldiers from 2-8 and 1-15, our sister battalions from Ft. Hood.

Camp Cuervo is also equipped with a small PX, a dining facility, a laundry facility, a 24/7 internet caf?, a kick boxing/aerobic room and two restaurants, one of which has become famous for its fresh fruit smoothies, while the other serves "cookouts", including baked fish or lamb kabob. Both restaurants serve local cuisine along with American favorites such as pizza, hot dogs, burgers, and fries. The 24/7 internet caf? fields 22 computers while allowing individual, personal laptop connectivity and is staffed by two civilians. Internet usage there is limited to 30 minues.

Camp Cuervo is also home to the Camp Cuervo Detention Facility. Surrounded by two chain-link fences with strands of razor wire, the detention facility serves as an initial processing and detention center with detainees being deemed of having taken part in anti-coalition activities being kept there for additional periods of time before being transferred to the Abu Ghraib Prison. The detention facility, a converted indoor pistol range, is located on the back portion of Camp Cuervo and consists of an air-conditioned building with 24 cells, each capable of housing two detainees. Ceiling fans are located over each cell, while each cell holds a bunk bed. A hot-and-cold shower facility is located directly ourside the fronr of the building. The new Camp Cuervo Detention Facility replaces an old detention facility located on the back side of Camp Cuervo. That back half of the camp was, as of mid-July 2004, due to be handed back to the New Iraq Army.

Additional security is reportedly provided by former members of the South African Army and will be tasked with securing that part of the camp.

Camp Redcatcher / Redcatcher Field
"Redcatcher" field is named for the former call signs of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's aviators.

As the soldiers of 2ACR began their seventh month of work in Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, precious but important time was taken to identify the Non Commissioned Officer and Soldier of the Year for 2003. Starting on 16 September 2003, the three-day event tested the nominated soldiers in a number of events. The competition began with a timed 5 km ruck march around the aviation squadron at Camp Redcatcher. At the finish line, with barely any time to recover from the grueling ruckmarch, was a mystery event waiting for the competing soldiers. They knew there was an event, but did not know what it would entail. As it turned out, the event was a weapons assemble/disassemble station. The conclusion of this event signaled the end of the first day?s competition.

Engineer Base Anvil
On 15 April 2003 the Marine's 7th Engineer Support Battalion moved to the outskirts of Baghdad where they set up camp in the compound of the Iraqi Republican Guard Headquarters and named the area Engineer Base Anvil. The camp in Baghdad was an Iraqi Republican Guard training base (like boot camp). Once there the 7th ESB linked up with 1st and 2nd Combat Engineer Battalions and also 8th Engineer Support Battalion EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal). They set up camp in the middle of their obstacle and ropes course. For the next four days we collected unexploded ordnance from the base as well as the nearby town.